USE OF MONTH LABELS
Month Labels are used for three major purposes.
1. Duplicate Name or Number accounts. When there is a possibility of confusion because multiple individuals having the same or similar names, then month and year labels corresponding to date of birth may be used to differentiate the individual accounts.
2. Aging the Files. When I worked at UCLA Hospital 90% of our file room (in the hospital basement) was taken away for the expansion of another department. We had to relocate 90+% of our files to a warehouse in Santa Monica, 5 miles away. After the move, we had only 9 months of active files located in the hospital. We had to purge our files every 6 months to make room for the new or reactivated patient files. The month and year labels were used to identify when a file had been inactive for 6 months or more. Each month we would remove the less active files and send them to be stored in the Santa Monica warehouse. Some companies use month and year labels because they destroy old business records after 7 years.
3. Recall. Some offices purchase labels a year in advance. With a combination of year and month labels, the office staff can identify, locate, and schedule patients who need recall visits. "We will call or email you March of next year to schedule a return visit."
ADVICE: One company sells MONTH/YEAR labels. These are labels which have both the year and the month printed on the same label. Besides being much more expensive, these are not recommended. When you do not use all of them or run out of a certain month's labels, you pay the price. If you recall multiple times a year you need only change the month label. If you schedule an annual recall you need only change the year. The small month and the small month labels, when purchased separately are actually less expensive that the MONTH-YEAR label. When you have any month labels left over, they can all be used next year.
All self-adhesive labels, including color code labels, are priced based on the size of the label (by the square inch). We recommend that you choose the smallest month and year labels available and save as much as 50%.
1. Duplicate Name or Number accounts. When there is a possibility of confusion because multiple individuals having the same or similar names, then month and year labels corresponding to date of birth may be used to differentiate the individual accounts.
2. Aging the Files. When I worked at UCLA Hospital 90% of our file room (in the hospital basement) was taken away for the expansion of another department. We had to relocate 90+% of our files to a warehouse in Santa Monica, 5 miles away. After the move, we had only 9 months of active files located in the hospital. We had to purge our files every 6 months to make room for the new or reactivated patient files. The month and year labels were used to identify when a file had been inactive for 6 months or more. Each month we would remove the less active files and send them to be stored in the Santa Monica warehouse. Some companies use month and year labels because they destroy old business records after 7 years.
3. Recall. Some offices purchase labels a year in advance. With a combination of year and month labels, the office staff can identify, locate, and schedule patients who need recall visits. "We will call or email you March of next year to schedule a return visit."
ADVICE: One company sells MONTH/YEAR labels. These are labels which have both the year and the month printed on the same label. Besides being much more expensive, these are not recommended. When you do not use all of them or run out of a certain month's labels, you pay the price. If you recall multiple times a year you need only change the month label. If you schedule an annual recall you need only change the year. The small month and the small month labels, when purchased separately are actually less expensive that the MONTH-YEAR label. When you have any month labels left over, they can all be used next year.
All self-adhesive labels, including color code labels, are priced based on the size of the label (by the square inch). We recommend that you choose the smallest month and year labels available and save as much as 50%.